JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi (21 page)

We went through the gate and I walked up close to Esra and turned and looked at the Italians walking in our direction. I held one finger in the air, and shook my head, no. And I smiled. Several of the young men smiled and shrugged their shoulders. Several more waved to her and pointed toward the trail, making finger motions that resembled walking. It was clear they hoped to see her again further up the mountain. As it later turned out, they would.

After Bim returned we resumed our trek. The morning was beautiful. We walked along the Dudh Kosi River and crossed a suspension bridge continuing in the deep valley until we reached the village of Josalle. There the confluence of the Dudh Kosi and Bhote Kosi make a lovely river valley which extends quite a ways and remains relatively easy to walk. There was another suspension bridge and later, still another. After a few miles we came upon a cluster of houses, and we saw children playing with kites. Esra and Celine were mesmerized and we stopped to watch. After a few moments I realized that the kite was nothing more than a supermarket shopping bag. It was the type you find in grocery stores today, a very light thin plastic. How he had come up to be in the valley of the Dudh Kosi River I have no idea, unless it had been brought by a trekker. Once again, it was remarkable how little these people had and how they could find value in the things we commonly discard. Beyond that I had no idea a plastic bag could fly as beautifully as a kite.

We continued up the river and finally found our way into the shadow of the mountain. There, the trail started up. We were at approximately 9,200 feet. For the next 2 ½ hours we walked on an extreme incline, switchback after switchback. To put this journey into perspective it is imperative to note that the women in the town of Josalle and other villages along the river climb up to Namche Bazaar several times each week to go shopping. What made this trip so difficult for us, aside from the fact that we were not able to train at altitude, was the fact that we were not able to train with real mountains. No matter how many times we climbed the stairs at the Citrus Bowl it did not account for much when faced with a climb from 9,200 feet to 11,200 feet in the space of 2 hours.

As I expected, Celine and Esra followed Bim closely for the first half hour. They soon dropped back however, and Christian and Chris and Curtis all stayed with our guide. I had to stop several times because I could not breathe, however about half way to the top my knees began to give me a great deal of trouble. Eventually I had to stop and sit. This was a real problem; not simply a matter of being out of shape or not being used in the altitude. My knees felt as if I had an ice pick jammed between the bones of the joint. After a while I continued climbing, and eventually found myself cresting the ridge that took us into Namche Bazaar. It was an amazing, sweet, relief to be walking on a relatively level surface.

Namche Bazarr is the last outpost. It is nestled in a bowl and surrounded by enormous peaks that exceed 26,000 feet. It is a real village, has electricity, an internet café, a laundromat, numerous restaurants, cafes, shops, wonderful lodges, and is the starting-off point for all expeditions to Mt. Everest. Here, climbers and trekkers from dozens of nations meet, swap gear, replace broken or damaged or lost equipment, tell tales, share aspirations, and weep over fallen comrades. Here you can walk amongst people who only come out of the mountain villages once or twice a year to buy essentials and then bump shoulders with Saudi Princes and members of the British Royal Family. Prince Charles is the commander of the Royal Ghurka Regiment and all Ghurka soldiers and he visited their homeland many years ago. It is really amazing the people who have made the climb to walk these streets shared by Nepali peasants, Tibetan silver traders in their yak fur hats and vicious curved knives, and hikers and climbers from every corner of the globe.

Bim was waiting for us when I finally reached the town square, such as it is. The village is in a bowl and has no square, but it does have a cleared area in the lower part of the bowl that opens into a field where yaks can be staked out and where the outhouses are for the common village. Several streets join and it is here that Bim waited for us to lead the way to the Thamserku View Lodge. My bag was already in a private room that looked out over some of the most majestic mountains in the world. At least that is what I remembered. All I was seeing today was cloud and drizzle.

The most majestic mountains are on the backside of the lodge and cannot be seen from the bottom of the bowl. All of the big mountains, all the giants that threaten 30,000 feet are off to the west and behind the mountain that backs the bowl. Still, 25,000 foot Ama Dablam, 26,000 foot Thamserku and 27,575 foot Lhotse Shar, in fact a whole chain of ri, or mountains run from the valley we had just climbed to Mt. Everest or Sagarmatha in Nepali. Namche, and further above Namche, Kunjung, sit on a mountain that rises between one giant formation and another, so that on one side you have a sheer wall and on the other a backing cliff nearly another mile high, so steep that later, when I took a photo of Namche from the overlook, most people swear that the photo was taken from an airplane. Fundamentally, you have an enormous valley on both sides and the only way into the high country, the highest country, is to climb up out of Namche Bazaar and go over and behind the mountain it sits on, then down into another valley, and from there you can choose your direction. To the north are the big boys and they stand like a picket fence of giants that stretches all the way west to the Hindu Kush and the Khyber Pass. To the east they roll into Bhutan and fade into mountains no higher than the Rockies.

Still, if I had been able to see them I would not have complained about a wall of snow capped peaks that stand 12,000 feet higher than the highest mountain in Colorado, and right out my window. I unpacked as we would be here a few days for the purpose of acclimatization.

I went downstairs and realized I was very hungry. I went into the restaurant. This is a room that is about twenty feet square with a narrow table that formed a U shape around the room. The cooking area occupied the rest of the space and consisted of a burner that cooked rice and a prep station on one table. There was a second table that held another burner where pans and skillets were used to sauté and braze the different ingredients. It is not like a western restaurant at all.

I sat at the rear of the room and the woman who had been cutting vegetables came over and handed me a printed menu. It was in English. I looked up at her and said, “You speak English?”

She gave me beautiful smile and nodded. She said, “I like to guess.”

“
Well done,” I said.

Several men walked into the room and she looked in their direction for a moment and then went to her prep table and shuffled through several paper menus. She walked over and said to each, “Bonjour, Monsieur, le carte.” They accepted the menus as if it were their right and due that a cook in a tiny restaurant in a remote village in the high Himalaya would greet them and speak French.

I looked at the menu and resolved then and there to eat everything, every dish, on the menu. I was so hungry I felt weak and every dish on the menu sounded delicious. There were even several dishes that included meat. When the cook came back I asked her name. She said her name was Pemba Sherpa. I recalled seeing her name somewhere and realized that she was the owner of the lodge where we were staying. I told her she had a beautiful lodge, and that I was looking forward to eating everything on the menu. She laughed. I then asked her about the availability of meat.

“
The pack trains have been very lucky,” she said. “But if a yak stumbles and falls from the mountain, or is hurt very badly, then perhaps there will be meat.”

I thought about that for a moment and decided not to comment. I ordered a dish with rice and vegetables. Then, thinking about how long it takes to cook anything this high up I ordered a second dish - the number two on the menu - and sat back. As she was walking away I thought about a cold beer and asked for that as well. She nodded.

I had not seen the group since arriving in Namche Bazarr. I was not worried, however, as they are all adults and it would be difficult to get into any kind of trouble as long as they kept their heads. About the only problem they could possibly have would be a mix up at the laundromat and the possible loss of a pair of hiking socks.

After a long wait my meal came and it was delicious. I finished it and almost immediately the second dish arrived. I ate that as well and drank several more beers, then climbed the stairs to the second floor. I found my way back to my room and took off my hiking boots. Then I collapsed and took a nap; it had been a long day and it was only 3:00 PM. We had made it to Namche Bazaar.

Chapter
14

Into the Fire

For the next three days Chris and Celine basically disappeared, then reappeared, then were gone again. Curtis and Christian wandered around the streets and once I found Curtis all by himself in the Internet café, drinking coffee and sending e-mails back to the world. Esra, on the other hand, was the belle of the ball. It is a wonder that she did not gain thirty pounds as every Italian team member wanted to have coffee and cake with her. The French team members, likewise, courted her in every possible way and as most of the major expeditions like the French, Italian or the Swiss teams had amazing provisions, wine, bread, and great chefs, she was courted and dined and wined and whisked here and there and offered all sorts of inducements to visit each lodge and restaurant and café in the village.

And she was made for this. She knew just how much flirting, how much of a pout, how much skirt to raise as she stepped over a puddle, how high to raise an eyebrow, how strongly to say no. She was the perfect embodiment of ukemi in Namche Bazaar. She was a master flirt and had I been a master of the salon instead of a mere sensei I would have promoted her to shihan. It was remarkable how she could receive that much attention without giving anything away at all. Well, as with any good uke, she had to give something up, but never enough to cost her anything dear.

On the morning of the second day I had gathered everyone together at breakfast and suggested that they stroll up to Khunde. “It is a beautiful walk and you will have a great view of the big mountains. I think you can see Everest, Cho Oyo, Gyachung Kang, Lhotse, and Makalu… at least four of the 8,000 meter peaks.” I would not be strolling along with them… I wanted to rest my knees.

“
How much of a climb is it, Sensei?” asked Christian.

“
Every single day the children go up there to school. That’s where the school is.” I laughed. “How hard can it be?”

Later Chris and Curtis found me in the restaurant at the Thamserku View Lodge and sat down on either side of me. Chris was not happy.

“
School kids?” he said.

“
Yup,” I said.

“
Pardon me, Sensei, but that was the climb from hell. That was worse than the climb up here! And, by the way, all I saw were clouds.”

“
I know,” I said. “But tomorrow when you do it again it will be a lot easier and you will know what it is like to walk at 13,000 feet. Your body will have experienced being there and you will be able to sleep a little better when we rest. It’s all part of the training. How did Celine and Esra do?”

He shook his head. “They didn’t. They didn’t go. They said they were supposed to have breakfast with some guy that had summitted Everest and K-2 both. He’s making a big deal about all his climbing records and the ladies are all gaga about meeting him. I guess everybody is all in a-twitter because he’s here… like he’s some kind of rock star.” He smiled at me.

“
Get it? C’mon. Rock star?”

Jesus. “Yeah, I got it. Well, that concerns me. Acclimatization is really important at this altitude.”

They looked at each other. Chris raised his eyebrows. Curtis spoke up,

“
Sensei, I think they are staying here. They listened to some guy who said that Gokyo Ri is a boring climb and a dumb destination. They want to go up to Everest Base Camp and some other places. Sorry.”

I thought about it. They were not under contract. We were all here as friends and no one was in charge. They could do whatever they liked. I didn’t see a problem as long as they were willing to cover any additional expenses that I had not already arranged for. I didn’t have a problem with it at all.

“
Do me a favor. I have to arrange the rest of the trip with Bim. I don’t want him contracting porters and kitchen boys we won’t need and our young ladies might want to arrange for porters or an extended stay in the lodge for themselves. We need to have a short group meeting with Bim and get these things handled. Can you guys find everybody and bring them here?”

“
When?” Chris asked.

“
As soon as you can, I’m not going anywhere.”

“
Okay.” They stood up and left.

After they had gone Pemba came over and asked if I wanted anything else. I looked at the next item on the menu. I pointed and she smiled.

“…
and another beer?” I asked.

She shook her head and walked away. An older gentleman had walked in and sat nearby while I had been talking with the guys and he smiled over at me and lifted his beer in a small toast. I lifted mine in response.